“Ride On,” Friend, Mar. 1998, 40–41
Ride On
And be ye kind one to another, … forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you (Eph. 4:32).
My name is Rylan Smith, and I am six years old. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I like all sports, but I like to ride my bike best. My story started in the spring, when I realized that my old bike was too small for me. It seemed like all the other children my age on our street were getting new, bigger bikes, and I really wanted a bigger bike too.
One day my mom and I were visiting our neighbor, Kathy. We were talking about bikes, and Kathy told us that they had a bike big enough for me that her son had outgrown. She said that I could try it out, and if I liked it, we could buy it. I took it for a test drive and really liked it. All it needed was a new seat and a new back tire. We decided to get it, and I helped pay for it with my own money.
One weekend the young men in our ward were doing a service project to help the Primary children fix up their bikes for summer. We were going to be gone that Saturday, but Royden, one of the young men, said he would come over to my house and fix my bike for me. He knew a lot about bikes. He changed the seat and tires. He even put a bell and a water bottle holder on my bike. Finally my nearly new bike was ready!
I rode over to my friend’s house to show it to him. Another boy was there, and I thought they would both be happy for me. To my surprise, they said unkind things to me and made fun of my bike. They really hurt my feelings. My friend even put a stick through the spokes of my tire so I couldn’t ride away. This made me angry. I wanted to call them names, to be mean to them, and to never play with them again. I felt very sad inside as I took the stick out of the spokes and rode home.
When I got home, I told my mom what had happened. She said that I had made a good choice in not being unkind to the boys. She said that when you are in a difficult situation, it is always best to think about what Jesus Christ would want you to do, and do that. She told me that sometimes when people are unkind to you, the best thing to do is just ride away, like I had.
But then I had another choice to make. Should I not be friends anymore because my feelings had been hurt, or should I try to be more like Jesus Christ by being kind, forgiving, and friendly to my friend? I chose to be kind and keep being a good friend.
The next day I rode my bike over to my friend’s house and asked him if he wanted to play and ride bikes. He said yes. We had fun together, and we are friends again. Making the right choice made me feel good inside.
Illustrated by Jerry Thompson